


#3: Bullies

by Winchester_Writer



Series: 10 Times Tony Stark Saved Peter Parker and 2 Times He Couldn't [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, mentions of bullying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-11 01:34:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20145379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winchester_Writer/pseuds/Winchester_Writer
Summary: Peter is having problems with a certain oddly-named boy at school, Tony puts an end to it.





	#3: Bullies

**Author's Note:**

> Mentions of bullying and name-calling. 
> 
> If you are being bullied, please know that you are not alone. You are braver and stronger than you know. If it gets to a point where you can't handle it, please talk to someone, a teacher, a parent, a trusted adult of some sort. Whatever happens, don't give up. You are brave and strong and you will get through this.
> 
> If you are witnessing someone getting bullied, help them. Tell a teacher, step in, intervene, or just be their friends. As Cap said, " I don't like bullies, no matter where they come from." Stand up for the little guys.

Spiderman had enemies, Peter knew that, Tony knew that too. In fact, Tony was the one who had told him about the fact that since he was a hero now, there would always be some people who would hate him. Peter had sat in silence, nodding along as Tony told him about the enemies he was going to have. Tony knew that Spiderman had enemies, but he didn’t know that Peter Parker had an enemy as well. 

“Yo, Parker!” Flash yelled at Peter as he passed by him in his car, almost running Peter over. 

Luckily, Peter’s reflexes were fast enough and he jumped out of the way before Flash could do any actual damage. He sighed and put his head down, for some reason Flash was getting worse and worse by the day. The normal insults were being thrown at him every 5 minutes and Flash was adding new ones by the day. If he was being honest, Peter was worried. He was scared and nervous that Flash would get physical and that would be really bad. Spiderman could easily take out Flash, but Peter Parker, no. Scrawny, weak, cowardly Peter Parker would never be able to take down Eugene “Flash” Thompson. 

He was sitting in class, answering different questions and taking notes furiously. Flash was sitting behind him, continuously kicking the back of Peter’s chair in attempt to mess him up. When they got out into the hallway, Flash knocked Peter down with a push to the back and he hit the floor with a loud “thud.” He waited for Flash to leave and then he picked himself up, brushing off the dust and then heading towards his locker. That’s how the days went for the next couple of months. Flash would taunt, yell, poke, prod, and even push him down onto the ground. Peter kept to himself most of the time, or hung out with Ned, keeping a safe distance away from Flash, but most of the times he couldn’t avoid him. 

The insults got worse and then things really did turn physical. Peter was on a green ticket meal plan, which meant he got a free lunch everyday. He wasn’t able to buy his lunches, neither him or May could afford them, so the school gave them to him for free. You only got one green ticket a day, so if you lose it, you’re out of luck. Peter was inconveniently losing his everyday, each taken by none other than Flash, who was rich enough to buy every single lunch from the school, if he wanted to. Instead of just buying himself a lunch, Flash would knock Peter over in the lunch line and then steal his green ticket. He’d then sit down to eat and smile at Peter, thanking him for the meal. For 2 months, Peter had been going through school without breakfast or lunch, he was losing weight steadily because of it. He never ate breakfast before school because most of the time he woke up a little late due to wanting to sleep in since he would patrol until late at night. Skipping both meals was taking its toll on him. 

Tony was noticing his rapid weight loss when he would come in for lab days on Wednesday and Friday. He started putting snacks in the lab and chalked it up to his increased metabolism due to the spider-bite, little did Tony know that Pete was practically starving everyday. The meal stealing was bad, but then things got physical. Flash would corner him after school and end up punching and kicking a couple of times. Flash and his small gang of “groupies” as Peter would call them, could be pretty violent. Nothing was too bad though, nothing in visible areas or things like black eyes. So far, nobody had noticed, but that was all about to change. 

“Yo, Penis Parker, what are you doing here?”

Peter rolled his eyes and sighed, finally done with Flash’s antics. 

“Oh Flash I don’t know why I’m here, in front of my locker, with my name on it.”

The other kids started to chuckle at Flash. Later in the day, Flash raised his hand quickly to answer a question and ended up getting it wrong. Peter turned to Flash and smiled. 

“I guess that’s why they call you Flash, cause you always get the wrong answer the fastest.”

Their classmates started bursting out laughing at that, even the teacher let out a chuckle before telling the class to calm down. Flash looked at Peter with a scowl and then whispered out, “you’re dead, Parker, dead.” That day, Peter was walking to Stark Tower with a black eye, two broken ribs, and a sprained ankle. He was limping, trying not to put any sort of pressure on his left leg because everytime he did pain shot through his ankle and foot. Happy couldn’t drive him over that day, he was running some sort of mission for Tony. It was October, so the air in New York was cold, Peter was shivering as he walked, the cold adding to the pain that he was already feeling. He didn’t know how he was going to explain this to Mr. Stark, so instead he opted to ditch on lab day today. He walked past Stark Tower and walked to the park that was just past the Tower. He took a seat on one of the park benches and shivered, wrapping his arms around himself. Peter was wearing jeans and a polo shirt, he hadn’t bought a new winter coat in a while and the last one had gotten too small for him. 

He blew into his hands and sat there for a while, that’s when the tears formed in his eyes. He sat on the bench and let the tears roll down, not bothering to look up or to wipe them away. Peter didn’t know how long he was sitting there for, he just knew that it was deathly cold and he was in a tremendous amount of pain. He heard a thud next to him, as if someone was landing there, but he didn’t bother to look up. 

Tony was getting worried. The kid hadn’t shown up yet and it was a lab day, that wasn’t like Peter. It was an hour later then Peter should be and Tony was officially freaking out. He alerted Karen and told her to track Pete’s phone. To his surprise, Peter wasn’t in any actual danger. He was just sitting in a park by Stark tower, not doing anything. Tony was even more confused now, he couldn’t understand why Pete would be sitting out in the freezing cold temperatures instead of coming to the lab. Tony suited up quickly and flew out of the Tower, he glided over the buildings and spotted Peter in the park, sitting on a bench. The kid was shivering and looked like he was turning blue. Tony decided that he needed to turn back and grab something, then come back to Pete. He turned around quickly and went into the Tower, grabbing some stuff. Tony turned around and flew back to the park, dropping down and landing with a “thud” next to the park bench. Peter didn’t even look up, heck the kid didn’t even flinch. 

“Hey Underoos, what are you doing?”

Peter’s head went crazy and he was racking his brain for ideas and how to get out of this mess. Mr. Stark wasn’t supposed to see him like this, that was the exact reason he didn’t go to the lab today, to avoid this. Peter didn’t look up, he simply looked down even farther and then continued to shiver. Mr. Stark stepped out of the Iron Man armor then came over and sat down next to him on the park bench, he took a breath and then sighed. 

“Why are you out here, Pete?”

Still no answer from Peter, just a simple head nod “no.”

“Okay, don’t feel like talking all that much? That’s okay.”

Tony moved the scarf he was holding and placed it on top of Peter’s neck, letting it drop around him. He grabbed the beanie and shoved it onto Peter’s head, roughly but not in a way that would hurt the kid. 

“Mister Stark!” Peter half-yelled at him. 

There was something off in Peter’s voice, Tony could tell, something had happened. 

“Kid, it’s a little bit below freezing out here. You stay out in just that and you’re gonna catch frostbite.”

“Thanks, Mr. Stark,” Peter said, then looked up at Tony. 

Tony’s face dropped as soon as Peter looked up. His eye was black and swelling, his face streaked with tears, and he was grimacing in pain. He looked like crap, according to Tony, but he couldn’t place why. Tony knew the kid was patrolling last night, but Karen would alert him if he got injured in anyway. Karen hadn’t said anything to Tony so he knew that it wasn’t from patrolling, something else must have happened. 

“Kid?”

Peter looked up at him and his lip quivered slightly.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Stark.”

“What happened, Pete?”

“It’s nothing, I’m fine.”

“Well, I would hate to see what not fine looks like. Kid, what happened?”

“Nothing, Mr. Stark! I’m not a snitch!”

Someone was bullying him, was the first thought that went through Tony’s head. How could anyone bully Peter? He was one of the sweetest, nicest kids he had ever met, granted he hadn’t meet a lot of kids, but still. 

“Who did this to you, Pete?”

“No one! I’m fine and I’m not a snitch!”

Peter stood up swiftly and took a step, then stumbled, pain shooting through his leg. He stumbled forward and Tony acted fast, grabbing him by his shirt collar and pulling him back. 

“Karen, scan Peter for any other injuries.”

The Iron Man suit scanned Peter and then Karen spoke. 

“Peter has sustained one minor injury and two major injuries. He has a black eye, two broken ribs, and a sprained ankle.”

Tony was dumbfounded. 

“Alright Underoos, I’m taking you back to the tower and then we are talking, no buts and no way out.”

Peter just hung his head and nodded, “yes.”

Tony hopped back into the suit and grabbed Peter, flying the two of them back to Stark Tower. He landed in the lounge and set Peter down. He stepped out of the suit and went to the kitchen, grabbing an ice pack, then handing it to Peter. He lead him to the table and had him sit down. He started to warm up some water for hot chocolate, knowing that Peter was still freezing. 

“Pete, I need you to talk to me. Who did this?”

“Flash,” the word came out as a whisper, but Tony still caught it. 

“Flash, who’s that?”

“Eugene ‘Flash’ Thomspon, he’s a guy at my school.”

“Tell me about him.”

Tony knew that if he pressed for answers right away, Peter would just clam up and not talk. So instead of asking him exactly what happened, Tony opted to ask him more general questions.

“He’s a bully, a jerk. He’s rich and entitled and he doesn’t like me.”

“Does he not like anyone else?”

“No, just me. He hasn’t liked me since middle-school. He keeps telling me that the Stark Internship isn’t real, that I’m just a pity project, that I’m not important.”

Tony’s blood started to boil. 

“You know that’s not true, Pete.”

“Yeah, but he thinks it is.”

“Is this the first time he’s gotten physical?”

“No, no more Mister Stark. I already said too much, I’m not a snitch.”

“Peter, what would you do if he was doing this to Ned or even to MJ? Wouldn’t you say something?”

“Of course!” 

“Then you need to tell me.”

Peter started to cry, tears rolling down his face and his breath coming in short gasps. Tony jumped into action, bringing over the two cups of made hot chocolate and sitting down next to Pete. 

“You’re okay, Pete, it’s okay.”

“It’s just some school lunches, Mr. Stark, but I’m hungry, I always leave so hungry.”

“What, kid?”

“He’s been taking my lunch tickets and I don’t have enough money to afford another one. I was getting so hungry, it’s been happening for months and finally I got fed up. I insulted him today, twice, and then he did this to me.”

“Peter, you’re Spiderman, why didn’t you stand up for yourself?”

“No I’m not. Spiderman is Spiderman. Peter “Penis” Parker is a no one. He’s weak and a loser and a pity project.”

“Stop!” Tony practically shouted, “You are never to talk about yourself like that again. Pete, you are brave and smart and talented and so, so kind. You don’t deserve this.”

Peter leaned into Tony and breathed through the tears, letting them fall, but not letting them consume him. Ten minutes later they were still like that, Peter was now sipping his hot chocolate and humming contentedly. 

“I’ll fix this, Underoos, I promise,” Tony thought to himself. 

A week later Tony Stark strolled into the principal’s office of Peter’s high-school. He asked if it was possible to pull Peter from class early as he had an important event that Peter needed to attend for his internship. In reality this “important event” was the fact that Tony had just set up a new gaming station for Peter and he wanted Peter to see it. He also was hoping that this would help Peter with his Flash situation. The principal looked on in shocked confusion and gave him permission to go. He grabbed his name tag and wrote, “you know who I am” on it and then strolled down the halls of the school towards Peter’s chemistry class. 

Tony knocked on the door and then walked in. Every single head turned towards him and he smiled. 

“Hi,” he said to the teacher who was standing there in stunned silence, “I was hoping to pull Pete here from class early. He has a meeting for the Stark Internship that he can’t miss.” 

He walked over to Peter and clasped him on the shoulder. 

“Sure,” the teacher mumbled out. 

“Come on Mr. Parker, the car is waiting.”

Peter was shocked, but quickly stood up and threw on his backpack, walking behind Tony. As they walked out, Peter smiled wide at Flash, who was sitting dumbfounded, mouth hanging open like a cod-fish. Peter and Tony strolled out of the classroom and then through the halls of school. 

“What meeting, Mr. Stark?”  
“There is no meeting, Underoos. I just thought you could use a day off from school.”

Tony winked as he spoke and Peter immediately realized what he had done. 

“Thank you, Mister Stark.”

“Nothing to thank me for, kid.”

2 weeks later and there wasn’t a single peep from Flash, he was too scared to taunt Peter, for fear that Tony Stark would drop from the sky and shoot him. Peter was happy again, smiling through classes and chatting Tony’s ear off when they were in the lab. Peter ended up falling asleep at the lab table one day and Tony smiled at him. 

“I got you, Underoos, always.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! This is my first ever fic so any feedback would be so, so appreciated!


End file.
